Physics 323, Spring Quarter 2015

Prof. Leslie J Rosenberg, Department of Physics, University of Washington

Useful Links:

• Readings, Lectures and Exams
• Tutorial web page


• Homework 1 due April 9 (Homework 1 solutions)
• Homework 2 due April 16 (Homework 2 solutions)
• Homework 3 due April 23 (Homework 3 solutions)
• Homework 4 due April 30 (Homework 4 solutions)
• No homework 5 this week
• Homework 6 due May 14 (Homework 6 solutions)
• Homework 7 due May 21 (Homework 7 solutions)
• Homework 8 due May 28 (Homework 8 solutions)
• Homework 9 due June 4 (Homework 9 solutions)
• No homework 10


• Exam 1 info. An equation sheet is provided on the exam. You will have from 9:00am until 10:20am to take the exam. The lecture-questions includes chapters 1 through 11.1.3 in Griffiths, plus the special lecture topics. The tutorial question included chapters 1 through 11.2.1 (accelerated point charges). All material, including lectures, homework, tutorial, and text material may appear in the exam. You won't need a "bubble" sheet. The exam has three lecture questions (hand-graded) and one tutorial question (hand-graded). You may bring a calculator, but you can't bring anything that can display pages (e.g., PDF or text viewer). Graphing calculators are OK. No cell phones. We won't post a seating chart; you can sit wherever you wish, but sit in every-other-seat. You may not bring your own equation sheet or information sheet. You may bring scratch paper, but nothing on scratch paper will be graded.
  Exam 1 score distribution.
  Exam 1 solutions.
  Regrades are rare and limited to grading blunders, not requests for more partial credit. Regrade requests for exam 1 are due at the beginning of the next lecture after the exams were handed back in lecture. Write the request on a separate sheet of paper attached to the front of the exam. Include all the exam pages with your submission. Never write anything on the handed-back exam. Regraded scores may go up, down or remain the same.
  
  
• Exam 2 (final exam) info. An equation sheet is provided on the exam. You will have from 10:30am until 12:20 to take the exam. The exam has three lecture questions (hand-graded) and one tutorial question (hand-graded). The exam lecture questions could potentially include Griffiths through chapter 12.3.2. All material, including lectures, homework, tutorial, and text material may appear in the exam. However, the lecture-question exam content is weighted more towards recent material. The field-strength tensor F and the covariant description of of electrodynamics will not be on lecture exam questions. But note the tutorial exam question asks about the structure of the field-strength tensor F, Griffiths section 12.3.3. You won't need a "bubble" sheet. You may bring a calculator, but you can't bring anything that can display pages (e.g., PDF or text viewer). Graphing calculators are OK. No cell phones. We won't post a seating chart; you can sit wherever you wish, but sit in every-other-seat. You may not bring your own equation sheet or information sheet. You may bring scratch paper, but nothing on scratch paper will be graded.
  Exam 2 score distribution.
  Exam 2 solutions.
  Regrades are rare and limited to grading blunders, not requests for partial credit. You may pick up your graded exam Tuesday June 16 at my office PAB C503 at 10:30-11:00am. You may also try coming by earlier and see if I'm in my office and can return your exam then. Regrade requests for exam 2 are due by 2pm Tuesday June 16: Write the request on a separate sheet of paper attached to the front of the exam, include all the graded exam pages with your submission (never write anything on the handed-back exam itself), and slip this under my office door PAB C503. Regraded scores may go up, down or remain the same.

Recent course news:

• [04jun15 11:00] On Monday 8 June at 4pm, I'll be in PAB C521 to answer questions or help with problems.


• [08may15 08:40] Guest lecturer for May 12 & 14: Prof. Gray Rybka. No office hours May 12.


• [30apr15 12:00] I'll be in my office PAB C503 Saturday 02May from 11:00am-12:30 to answer questions or help with problems. If more than a couple people show up, we'll move to PAB C521. If the building doors or elevator are locked, call my office 206 221-5858 and someone will let you in.


• [27apr15 15:30] Guest lecturer for April 28 & 30: Prof. Gray Rybka. No office hours April 28.


• [24apr15 09:55] I'm home sick. I'll be late posting homework 4 and homework 3 solutions. Friday meetings are cancelled. Aoologies.


• [13apr15 08:40] Guest lecturer for April 14 & 16: Prof. Gray Rybka. No office hours April 14.


• [02apr15 14:00] Change in lecture ordering: Tuesday April 7 will be Griffiths 10.1, 10.2 & 10.3. We'll return to cavities and TEM modes and coaxial waveguides on Thursday April 9.


• [02apr15 14:00] Guest lecturer for April 7: Prof. Gray Rybka.\ No office hours April 7.


• [01apr15 10:05] Someone asked for more information on the various systems of units commonly used in electrodynamics. Here's a scan of the "units" appendix from Panofsky & Phillips: units.


• [30mar15 10:00] Tutorials start the second week of class. (Ignore the earlier news about the start week of tutorials.)

Lecture Instructor's Comments

Welcome to Physics 323, the third of a three-quarter sequence of electrodynamics for advanced undergraduates. This third quarter is considerably more advanced than the first two quarters. The material on guided waves, radiation and the connection of special relativity and electrodynamics will take more thought and effort on your part than the first two quarters. The payoff is you'll begin to appreciate the great beauty of electrodynamics. I hope you find this course challenging and stimulating. The topic of electrodynamics is crucial for understanding the underpinnings of the physical and biological sciences. It's also crucial for modern technology. I hope that you also find it to be interesting and enjoyable. Have a great quarter! Regarding the course: We'll use Griffiths' text "Introduction to Electrodynamics". The lecture will include "special topics" (see the course schedule) that are covered in more detail or differently than the presentation in Griffiths. You might want more details, in which case you might want to look at Lorrain and Corson "Electromagnetic Fields and Waves" or "Fundamentals of Electromagnetic Phenomena". My personal favorites at this level are Panofsky and Phillips "Classical Electricity and Magnetism" and Slater and Frank "Electromagnetism"; both are, sadly, out of print (and out of style). The motivated student might want to peek at the graduate-level text Jackson "Classical Electrodynamics". And the lovers of pain might want to try the problems in Smythe "Static and Dynamic Electricity." There's no perfect text, and every text has gems scattered throughout. This third quarter material is where different authors' viewpoints may be enlightening. That said, for many of the topics we will follow the text by Griffiths.

Syllabus The syllabus for 323 is given in the links above.

Grading 25% of your grade is assigned to each of homework, mid-term exam, final exam, tutorial ("quiz section")***.

Important dates
May 5 mid-term Exam.
June 10 Final.

The course design is a cooperative effort of many faculty, each of whom is deeply concerned with providing the most effective learning experience for every student. Each element of the course (lecture [called "quiz section"] and tutorial) is useful to your mastery of physics. Don't be shy about seeing the Professor or tutorial instructor outside of class during the quarter; it will pay off for you in many ways as the years go by.

Memorization of material is not particularly helpful in this class. Your goal in this class should be to understand how each new topic is related to all of the previous material, and how the concepts, rules and formulae can be applied to solve real-world problems. Never let anything go by if you do not understand. Generally, ask questions immediately. If it is inconvenient to interrupt, make a quick note to yourself and inquire later.

General Comments

Grading Policy

Concurrent enrollment in tutorial (also called "quiz section") is mandatory; students will receive a combined grade for lecture and tutorial. The final course grade is based on the midterm exam, the final exam, the lecture homework, plus tutorial participation and exercises. ***You must pass the tutorial section to pass the class.
• Midterm exam: There will be one closed-book midterm exam. It will emphasize the more recent material, but may include topics from far earlier in the course and earlier courses. The exams could include both multiple-choice and hand-graded questions. An equation sheet containing selected numerical values and major equations will be provided for each midterm exam, so memorizing equations and numerical values should not be necessary. Calculators are permitted, but text storage and graphics functionality must not be used. Cell phones, radios, etc. are not permitted. Laptop computers are not permitted. Exams are to be your own work; you are not permitted to collaborate with any other person. The Physics Department reserves the right to ask for valid identification from any student during examinations.
• Note that there are no make-up exams. Students with outside professional, service, or career commitments (i.e. military service, ROTC, professional conference presentation, NCAA sports, etc.) conflicting exactly with the exam dates must contact the instructor early in the quarter to establish alternate procedures. Students who miss an exam due to illness should contact the instructor as soon as possible to discuss alternate procedures. Students who miss an exam without making prior arrangements with the lecture instructor will get a zero for that exam score. Except for illness and circumstances noted above, a final grade of 0.0 may be assigned to any student who misses a midterm exam.
• Final Exam: A two-hour closed-book comprehensive final exam is given during finals week. This examination will cover material from the entire course, but the material will be weighted towards more recent material. An equation sheet containing selected numerical values and major equations will be provided for the final exam. Calculators are permitted, but text storage and graphics functionality must not be used. Cell phones, radios, etc. are not permitted. Laptop computers are not permitted. The final exam is to be your own work; you are not permitted to collaborate with any other person. The Physics department reserves the right to ask for valid identification from any student during examinations. A final grade of 0.0 will be assigned to any student who does not take the final exam.
• Exam Re-grades: If you believe that the points on the examination were incorrectly totaled or if there is a gross error in the grading, you should return an exam for regrading. To do so, you must resubmit the examination no later than at the beginning of the lecture following the one in which the exams are returned. You must write a brief note on a separate piece of paper explaining the possible error in the grading, and staple this note to the front of all the exam pages when you submit them for re-grading. Do not make *any* changes or marks on any pages of the examination. You should be aware that any request for a regrade may result in grading of the entire exam. Therefore your total score may increase or decrease.
• Tutorials ("quiz sections"): Grading policies will be explained in your tutorial section. Please note that grades for your tutorial form a significant percentage of your overall grade for the course. ***Also, a passing grade in the tutorial is required in order to pass the course.
• Homework:
Lecture homework will be assigned and collected weekly. You'll usually turn in homework on the due-day in class. You may also leave the homework in the instructor's mailbox in the Physics Department Main office. Late homework receives zero points. Note that not all the homework problems will be graded.

• The lecture and tutorial instructors may choose to not take action on grading complaints that are not reported in a timely fashion.

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